To celebrate Vikings Live, we have replaced our Roman alphabet with the runic alphabet used by the Vikings, the Scandinavian ‘Younger Futhark’. The ‘Younger Futhark’ has only 16 letters, so we have used some of the runic letters more than once or combined two runes for one Roman letter.

The Plains

The people of the North American Plains were
predominantly nomadic, living in large territories roamed by great
herds of buffalo.

Early adopters of the horse, they lived in societies governed by
profound military and religious traditions which produced richly
decorated clothing and weaponry. The Plains peoples fought
ferociously to maintain their independence as the European nations
of North America spread westwards in the nineteenth century.
Eventually, after decades of resistance, most Plains people were
forced to live on reservations, where despite documented official
efforts to eliminate them, traditional practices and languages have
survived.

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This shirt once belonged to the Kainai chieftain Red Crow, who was a formidable warrior in his youth and as chieftain engaged in negotiations with the Canadian government to secure his people’s future.

A wooden stem from a smoking pipe, inlaid with lead symbols. Tobacco consumption on the Plains was of spiritual importance, and all ceremonies were solemnified by the ritual passage of the pipe between participants.

The people of the farthest northern reaches of the Americas live
in a world of scarcity: finite resources and a hostile environment
have created a resourceful and resilient people who retain much of
their ancestral tradition and lifestyle.